[.ca] The Eternal Darkness: A Personal History of Deep-Sea ... (ISBN 0691027404)

From Amazon.com:
As a young man, at a time when most of his peers were turning their eyes to deep space, Robert Ballard came under the spell both of scientific inquiry and of the ocean. After taking a doctorate in marine geology and geophysics, he spent three decades at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, through which he participated in more than a hundred deep-sea expeditions. Writing from the point of view of "a privileged witness to a fascinating burst of exploration," Ballard recounts many of those explorations, including the first up-close studies of the great mid-ocean ridge of volcanic mountains that circles the globe, full of seafloor vents and "black smokers." Along the way Ballard provides a brief history of modern oceanography, looking at the contributions of such scientists as Charles William Beebe and Otis Barton, whose legendary dives in the early 1930s paved the way for much subsequent research. Ballard's narrative takes on particular vigor when he describes, in fascinating detail, his team's search for the wreckage of the Titanic--a search that relied on intelligent guesswork as much as on hard evidence. The methods he and his colleagues used--employing, among other things, sophisticated remote-control craft--to find the unfortunate vessel ushered in a new era of deep-ocean research, a contribution in which Ballard takes justified pride. --Gregory McNamee

The Good, the Not so Good, and the Ugly:
Okay: let's start with the hydrothermal vents, as regards the origins of theories about the origin of life and the possibility of extraterrestrial icebound life. It really does seem as if Ballard suggests in his book that this began with his Alvin team, but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt on this and attribute any lack of proper attribution to sloppy writing. These are the facts, as I know them: The Fox Holes hypothesis, now popularly called the "Europa theory" was named in honor of molecular biologist Sidney W. Fox, by me and Jesse A. Stoff, about 1977. The Ballard team subsequently found whole ecologies surviving on sulfides instead of sunlight and this immediately put an end to all of my earlier skepticism (owing to my co-author, Stoff, who saw a universe brimming with underground life); this put an end to my endless questions about a viable food source, in the absence of sunlight, in places like Europa and Ganymede. The vent communities provided the capstone for our (previously untenable) hypothesis. Stoff and I told (a rather puzzled) Bob Ballard that he had "just opened up a whole new window on the universe." We praised his hydrothermal vent communities as the biological discovery of the century, and we still do. When James Powell and I were designing robot submarine space probes (for Europa) nearly a decade later, the "Europa theory" became the specific reason I ended up sailing to the hydrothermal vent zone of the Galapagos Rift with Ballard and the Argo crew. To the best of my knowledge, the first scientists to suggest that hydrothermal vents were the original source of life on Earth (for what it's worth, I believe vents were one of several routes to the origin of life), were Claire Edwin Folsome of the University of Hawaii and Cyril Ponnamperuma of Sri Lanka's Institute for Integral Education. Both of them were teachers of mine, and both of them died pornographically young. I really do not care what Ballard says or does not say about me, but I do hope he will properly credit Folsome and Ponnamperuma in future editions. I make this point because one must keep a faith with his teachers, and with the dead. Since we are talking about giving credit where credit is due, I must disagree with critics who cite a judge's claim that Ballard should not be credited with the discovery of the Titanic because he happened not even to be in the control van when the first boiler showed up on the screens. By that same argument, we should also give credit to the discovery that heralded the colonization of America not to Columbus but to the man who first sighted land from the Pinta's crow's nest. Let's be a little real, here.... I think the unusual lifeform he first photographed - the rusticles - have not only taken the wind out of his "take pictures only" argument's sails, they've capsized his whole damned boat. Had bio-archaeologist Roy Cullimore and I simply left the rusticles on the Titanic's hull plates untouched, without studying them more closely, we would never have found a primitive immune system that promises at least ten new antibiotics and perhaps a new anti-cancer drug as well. When Ballard writes, "take pictures only," he underestimates the importance of the unexpected, the power of serendipity in scientific endeavor.

It's Science for the People.:
I had the privilege of listening to Dr. Ballard speak on some of his explorations. It was quite an honor because I remember when his team discovered the Titanic in 1985 and because of that discovery I have tried to keep up at least a popular know-how about science and technology. THE ETERNAL DARKNESS discusses some of the things Dr. Ballard spoke about when I heard him and some of the things I remember reading about when I was a kid. The book is basically a very brief history of deep-sea exploration that is divided into three parts. The first part deals with exploration up until the time of the submersible. There really isn't much about ancient exploration techniques because until the beginning of the 20th century, humankind really wasn't doing any deep-sea exploring. The book talks a lot about bathyscaphs and bathyspheres, things that I only vaguely remember from old Walt Disney cartoons. The second part of the book explores the discoveries made using submersibles. Ballard began his career near the beginning of the end of this age and it is in this section that he begins discussing many of his own personal voyages and discoveries, including those in the mountain ranges of the oceans. The third part of the book talks about the events in deep-sea exploring from about the early 1980s on with robotic vehicles doing most of the really deep work. In this part of the book, Ballard discusses other discoveries he was involved with including the Titanic. Personally, I found the book quite interesting. Ballard does seem to take a lot of credit for various discoveries and events, but he was actually there for the discoveries of those things or at least was a member of the team. This book probably isn't something that an expert in science would want to read (too easy), but it's great for the average Joe. If only all science books were as easy to read as this one.

Disturbing:
Robert Ballard has a nasty habit of not mentioning the people who have made possible some of his most famous "discoveries," or who made the discoveries themselves. One comes to believe after a while that he captained the research ship, built all the equipment, and after he popped out of the submarine cooked dinner for everyone too. Judge Clark of Virginia has pointed out (during a turf war over the Titanic) that Ballard fails to mention that his discovery of the Titanic was equal part of a French-American expedition involving no fewer than three ships. On the night the Titanic actually was discovered, it was first noticed on the screen by the ship's cook, Johnny, and Ballard was below decks asleep. As for his "Yorktown" discovery, the aircraft carrier had already been located by others. Ballard merely went in afterward and took pictures. Now we read him talking about the famous theory of oceans and black smokers inside Jupiter's icy but volcanically active moon Europa and suggesting that this idea originated with him and his Alvin team when in fact it was first proposed by NASA scientists more than twenty years ago. Does Bob Ballard really expect no one to remember that this theory was the central theme of Arthur C. Clarke's classic novel "2010"? Does he expect no one to remember the movie? As the Alvin crew have been heard to say, "How many 'o's do you spell your name with, Bob?"

Balancing the reviews: Another exceptional volume by Ballard:
The earlier reviews of The Eternal Darkness show the benefit of Amazon's review system. I get nothing for polishing Amazon's apple, but this company has transformed book selling in much the same way that Ballard took existing knowledge, technology, and organizational leadership and enthusiasm and converted them into historic discoveries on the ocean floor. As one with longtime personal acquaintance with Ballard's oceanographic work, I advise readers not to place credence in one carping, jealous critic. On the other hand, without Amazon's review system how else could one ever learn of the nuanced, knowledgeable critique of "Time Walker"? One noteworthy point is that beside his spectacular images and technical breakthroughs, Ballard is ever on the alert to new ideas and concepts. For example, he realized and has popularized the amazing resource that the Black Sea - which has no oxygen through most of its 2000 m depth - offers for finding new insights into ancient cultures. In this environment teredo worms and ordinary bacteria that destroy virtually all wood and metal are absent. The anaerobic bacteria that remain operate exceedingly slowly - offering the chance that even leather and sometimes paper might remain recoverable when wrecks are buried in mud. Because of the popularity of Ballard's work he has enjoyed support of powerful organizations, from the U.S. Navy to National Geographic. He uses these resources not to enrich himself as many others might do, but primarily to advance further explorations whose costs might otherwise be prohibitive. So enjoy the visual and the action in Ballard's book, and keep the mind open for the talk, and appreciate one of the large spirits of 20th Century and 21st Century science and exploration.

A great book:
This book is the BEST book for people who want to learn about the hydrothermal vents, the RMS Titanic, or the Bismark. It brings out the best in Robert D. Ballard and sea exploration. It has information on just about everything Robert D. Ballard has found. When I first read this book, I almost flipped over. The hydrothermal vents are very interesting and the RMS Titanic has a big part in this book also.